Before Harry
by autumnleaf
Summary: This is the first part of what I plan to be a very long story about the adventures of James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter when they first started Hogwarts. Expect to see lots of Snape as well... :)


"Potter, James," called the woman in the front of the Dining hall.  
Well, here it goes, James thought nonchalantly, strolling right up to the woman with dark hair pulled into a tight bun.  
The woman, whom James vaguely remembered as being called Professor Minerva McGonagall, gave a faint snort, as if she saw something in James' hazel eyes that amused her. Rather than say anything, she pointed to the rugged old hat on the stool and stood waiting.  
With an air of indifference, James pulled the hat on over his head. This thing's likely to fall apart over my head, it's so old!  
Old, young master? Said a voice in James' ear. It seemed to chuckle, if that's what you could call it. It sounded like a bee in a jar to James. Yes, I am old. Older than you could imagine.  
What the- James started to think, and was cut off by the grizzled old hat.  
Now, now, no time for chatter. It is my duty to sort you, you know, not answer your questions!  
Let's see.Hufflepuff is definitely out.It chuckled again in his ear. James wished it would stop doing that, as it was giving him a headache. It seems that you have a streak of disobedience in you.I suppose that also takes Ravenclaw out of the picture. although the cleverness is quite apparent. my, my. oh dear. yes. I think."GRYFFINDOR!!"  
James pulled the hat off of his head quickly and threw it on the stool, glaring distastefully. Not that he minded Gryffindor. no, he was quite pleased, and it showed on his face in a slight grin as he walked to the table of the house. His house.  
He listened to the applause with pleasure, and took a seat between two other first-years who had been sorted earlier.  
"Good job, mate," the one on his right said as McGonagall continued calling the roll. He had dark eyes and longish black hair, James noticed as he nodded to the boy.  
"Yeah. I heard Gryffindor is the best," he said, for lack of any better conversation.  
"The name's Sirius Black," the boy said, extending his hand to James. "And you'd be James Potter."  
James took the hand, smiling a little. "That's right."  
"Where're you from?" Sirius asked, and James was about to answer when the headmaster, a man named Dumbledore, rose to speak.  
"Welcome to yet another year at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said with a smile on his elderly face. "Welcome especially to our new students, who will, hopefully, find our beloved school to their liking. First-years should also note-"  
"God, that man likes to talk, doesn't he?" Sirius asked, jabbing his thumb in Dumbledore's direction.  
James laughed and nodded.  
The boy on James' left looked at them hesitantly, an expression of embarrassed annoyance on his face, before turning away quickly.  
"Something wrong?" Sirius drawled to the boy with light brown hair.  
"No, nothing, just. I. I don't think you should be talking about our headmaster like that!" he stammered.  
"What's your name, boy?" Sirius asked, almost kindly.  
"Remus Lupin," Remus gulped and ran a hand nervously through his shaggy hair.  
"Right, Remus. don't try to boss me around, ok?" Sirius was still acting quite friendly to Remus. "I'm Sirius Black."  
Remus gulped again. "Nice to meet you."  
"And this is James Potter," he continued, and James stuck his hand out.  
Remus reached out and shook James' hand hesitantly, saying something polite under his breath.  
Meanwhile, Dumbledore had stopped his monologue and food suddenly began appearing on the table of all sorts, from tarts to turnips to turkey.  
James and Sirius both immediately turned to the food and began stuffing their faces, while Remus piled his plate high with vegetables.  
James pointed with his fork. "What's that all about?"  
Remus looked around to see what James was pointing at and saw that it was his plate. "What about it?"  
"Well. all those vegetables. can't be good for you." James said fuzzily, trying to remember the brief lessons his mother had given him on nutrition and fitness.  
"I don't like meat," Remus said fiercely, causing James to flinch a little.  
"Oh. ok, then, mate. no worries. you don't have to eat meat," James said, taken aback at Remus' force.  
Sirius was watching in amusement, his dark eyes full of laughter. "Calm down, Remus," he said with a chuckle.  
"Sorry!" Remus said quickly. "I didn't mean to be snappy, I just."  
"You don't need to explain," James said, grinning. He looked around at his fellow students and first-years. One of them was obviously a prefect- with curly blonde hair and stern brown eyes, he was getting a head start on his duties by telling a first-year girl off. James had seen her on the train. She had longish red hair that fell down her back in waves, but James couldn't tell what she looked like as her back was to him. He listened for a few seconds to the boy before turning to Sirius.  
"Sirius," he asked, "what's wrong with that boy's voice?"  
Sirius glanced over before shrugging. "I've heard of him. Some bigshot boy from America. Apparently he didn't like the school over there, so he's a transfer student. That's what Peter told me, anyway."  
"Peter?" Remus piped in.  
"Peter Pettigrew. I met him on the train ride." Sirius pointed to a short, chubby boy at the other end of the table with extremely blonde hair and small, slightly crossed eyes. "Bit of a sod, actually, but he's good for information, apparently. Told me about Lily Evans as well."  
"Lily Evans?" James asked.  
"The girl Tyler is telling off, with the red hair," Sirius said, gesturing towards the pair. Lily now had her hands on her hips and seemed in intense conversation with Tyler whom James took to be the American.  
At that moment, the food started disappearing from their plates, and they knew that dinner was over.  
"Come on," Sirius said, pulling James out of his chair and gesturing to Remus to follow with a sharp toss of his head that made dark locks of hair fall into his face.  
James allowed himself to be pulled along until they reached Tyler.  
"I really don't think that-" Lily was arguing with him, her foot occasionally tapping the floor in annoyance.  
The fifteen-year-old American put his fingers to her lips. "Shh. Stop. No more questions, babe."  
"Babe?" Lily asked incredulously, quickly removing his fingers from her lips.  
"Hey," James spoke out, and Sirius stood behind him, the same height as Tyler.  
"Maybe you shouldn't do that," Remus said to Tyler, looking from Sirius to James and back again.  
Tyler scoffed. "Come along, little first years," he said, totally ignoring James and Sirius. "I'll take you to the common room."  
Scowling, James followed reluctantly. 


End file.
